Scan documents

We’ve taken scanning out of Word 2013 or 2016, but there are a couple of other ways you can insert scanned images or text into your document.

Scan an image into Word

To scan an image into a Word document you can either use a scanner or a digital camera.

Scan your image or take a photograph of it with your digital camera or smartphone.

Save the image as a standard image format such as .JPG, .PNG or .GIF. Place it in a folder you can access on your computer.

In Word, place your cursor where you would like to insert the image and on the Insert tab of the Ribbon click Pictures.

Select the picture you want to insert from the dialog box and click Insert.

Scan text into Word

The best way to scan a document into Microsoft Word is to use our free Office Lens app on your smartphone or tablet. It uses your device's camera to capture the document and can save directly into Word format as an editable document. Available for free on iPad, iPhone, Windows Phone and Android.

If you don't have Office Lens then the next best option is to scan your document as a PDF using your scanner's native software then open that PDF file in Word.

In Word click File > Open.

Navigate to where your PDF file is stored and open it.

Word will open a dialog box confirming that it is going to attempt to import the text of the PDF file. Click OK to confirm and Word will import the text. Word will do its best to preserve the formatting of the text as it appears in the PDF.

Note: The accuracy of the text recognition depends on the quality of the scan and on the clarity of the text you scanned. Handwritten text is seldom recognized, so only try scanning typed or printed text for best results. Always proofread the text after opening it in Word to ensure the text was accurately recognized.